Systems and methods of notifying a patient to take medication

• US 10,360,345 B2
• Filed: 01/25/2016
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Institut Mines-Télécom
• Original Assignee: Time Warner Cable Enterprises LLC (Charter Communications Incorporated)
• Inventors: Ramsdell, Scott W., Waxenberg, Susan A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Pham, Quang
• Application Number:
  US15/005,173
• Publication Number:
  US 20160140308A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,275 Days
• Field of Search: 34030916, 3405721, 3405731, 600300, 600301
• CPC Class Codes: G08B 21/24 Reminder alarms, e.g. anti-loss alarms
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/10 relating to drugs or medications, e.g. for ensuring correct administration to patients
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 40/67 for remote operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/224 providing notification on incoming messages, e.g. pushed notifications of received messages
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/02 based on web technology, e.g. hypertext transfer protocol [HTTP]

Abstract

Systems and methods of scheduling and sending notifications to, and receiving acknowledgements from, patients regarding specific health care events, such as the taking of medications at scheduled times and in prescribed dosages. By directing a patient to take their prescribed dosages of medication at scheduled times based on a schedule of medications prepared for the patient by a health care provider, a caregiver, etc., and enabling the patient to provide acknowledgements of having taken their prescribed dosages of medication, improved health care outcomes can be achieved. Further, by allowing the patient to receive such directives to take their medication, as well as to send such acknowledgements, using a set top box connected to a television set, a mobile device such as a mobile phone, and/or a patient notification device such as a wireless pendant, desired improvements in health care outcomes can be achieved with an increased level of convenience.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

at a computerized scheduling server, receiving a communication from an authentication server, the communication indicating a unique code assigned to a patient that is prescribed to take medicine at a scheduled time, the authentication server transmitting the unique code and corresponding address information associated with a communication device of the patient to a notification server;

via the computerized scheduling server, monitoring for occurrence of the scheduled time in which the patient is scheduled to take the medicine;

upon detection of the occurrence of the scheduled time, communicating a message including the unique code from the computerized scheduling server to the notification server; and

in response to receiving the message at the notification server, communicating a notification from the notification server over a network to a network address assigned to the communication device as indicated by the corresponding address information received from the authentication server, the notification notifying the patient to take the medicine.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the network is an Internet Protocol TeleVision (IPTV) network;

and

wherein communicating the notification includes sending the notification to the communication device over the IPTV network.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the notification is operable to cause a perceptible output to be presented on a display device controlled by the communication device, the perceptible output indicating that the patient needs to take the medicine.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

at the communication device, receiving a signal from a remote control device used to control playback of content on a display screen, the signal indicating an acknowledgement that the patient has taken the medicine; and

communicating the acknowledgment from the communication device to the notification server.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving, at the computerized scheduling server from the communication device, credentials of a specified individual for use in verifying the specified individual to program the computerized scheduling server.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising:

receiving, at the computerized scheduling server from the communication device, a patient account number for use in allowing the specified individual to prepare a schedule of medications to be taken by the patient.

7. The method of claim 6 further comprising:

receiving, at the computerized scheduling server from the communication device, the schedule of medications for the patient, the schedule of medications including the scheduled time in which the patient is to take the medicine.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

directing, by the computerized scheduling server, the authentication server to query an account information repository for personalized information pertaining to the communication device using the patient account number, the personalized information including the unique identification code to avoid direct association of the personalized information with the patient.

9. The method of claim 8 further comprising:

querying, by the authentication server, the account information repository for the personalized information pertaining to the communication device.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication device is a set top box providing the patient access to retrievable content, the method further comprising:

forwarding an acknowledgement from the notification server to the computerized scheduling server, the acknowledgment indicating that the patient has taken the medicine.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

in response to detecting that an acknowledgement of the patient having taken the medicine is not received at the notification server, notifying a computerized device of a failure to receive the acknowledgement.

12. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

in response to detecting that the acknowledgement of the patient having taken the medicine is not received at the notification server, sending an emergency message to the communication device.

13. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

receiving an acknowledgment from the patient that the patient takes the medicine at the scheduled time; and

providing notification to a health care provider of the acknowledgment, the health care provider producing the scheduled time in which the patient is to take the medicine.

14. The method as in claim 13 further comprising:

receiving the communication from the authentication server in response to querying the authentication server for account information associated with the patient.

15. The method as in claim 1, wherein assignment of the unique code to the patient avoids distribution of personal information of the patient to the computerized scheduling server through which the medicine is scheduled to be taken by the patient.

16. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

at the computerized scheduling server, receiving input that schedules the medicine to be taken by the patient; and

in response to receiving the input, the computerized scheduling server causing the authentication server to obtain personal information associated with patient, the personal information including the unique code and the corresponding address information associated with the communication device of the patient.

17. The method as in claim 16, wherein the authentication server protects distribution of the personal information by:

i) communicating the unique code to the computerized scheduling server, and ii) transmitting the unique code and the corresponding address information associated with the communication device to the notification server.

18. The method as in claim 1, wherein the authentication server protects distribution of the corresponding address information associated with the communication device by communicating the unique code to the computerized scheduling server and transmitting the unique code and the corresponding address information associated with the communication device to the notification server.

19. The method as in claim 1 further comprising:

at the computerized scheduling server, receiving input scheduling the medicine to be taken by the patient; and

in response to receiving the input, the computerized scheduling server directing the authentication server to obtain personal information associated with patient from a repository, the obtained personal information including the unique code and the corresponding address information associated with the communication device of the patient.

20. The method as in claim 1, wherein the authentication server communicates the unique code to the computerized scheduling server over a first secure communication link;

and

wherein the authentication server communicates the unique code and the corresponding address information associated with the communication device to the notification server over a second secure communication link, the second secure communication link being independent of the first secure communication link.

21. The method as in claim 1, wherein communication of the unique code to the computerized scheduling server avoids a need to distribute the corresponding address information to the computerized scheduling server through which the medicine is scheduled to be taken by the patient.

22. The method as in claim 1, wherein communication of the unique code from the computerized scheduling server to the notification server prompts the notification server to notify the patient to take the medicine.

23. A patient notification system, the patient notification system comprising:

a notification server;

an authentication server;

a network access device associated with at least one patient; and

a computerized scheduling server,

wherein the computerized scheduling server is operative to receive a communication from the authentication server, the communication indicating a unique code assigned to the patient that is prescribed to take medicine at a scheduled time, the authentication server operative to transmit the unique code and corresponding address information associated with the network access device of the patient to the notification server;

wherein the computerized scheduling server is operative to monitor for occurrence of the scheduled time in which the patient is scheduled to take medication, and, upon detection of the occurrence of the scheduled time, to send, to the notification server, a message including the unique code of the network access device, the network access device being communicably connectable to a display device,

wherein the notification server, in response to receiving the message, is operative to send, over a network, a notification message to a network address assigned to the network access device as indicated by the corresponding address information received from the authentication server,

wherein the network access device is operative to, in response to receipt of the notification message, cause a perceptible notification of the scheduled time to take the medication to be presented to the patient on the display device,

wherein the notification server is further operative to receive, over the network from the network access device, an acknowledgement of the patient having taken the medication,

wherein the network includes an Internet Protocol (IP) network, and

wherein the notification server is further operative to send the notification message to the network access device over the IP network.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein the IP network is an Internet Protocol TeleVision (IPTV) network, and

wherein the notification server is further operative to send the notification message to the network access device over the IPTV network.

25. The system of claim 24, wherein the notification server is further operative to receive the acknowledgement of the patient having taken the medication from the network access device over the IPTV network.